Ambulances bought by the Department of Health (DOH) were overpriced by P1 million per unit, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Thursday.
Under the DOH Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), he said ambulances with equipment were procured at P2.5 million per unit.
But local government units (LGUs) that bought the same model of ambulance paid only P1.5 million.
Lacson said if the national government had purchased five rather than three ambulances if there was no overpricing.
Lacson said he was “personally upset” by the overpriced purchases, since he was the one who realigned the 2021 national budget to provide additional funding for HFEP.
Lacson said the country is a ruined nation if the government fails to see the irregularity in the purchase of overpriced personal protective equipment.
Lacson issued the statement a day after presidential spokesperson Harry Roque denied that the Duterte administration bought overpriced PPEs, claiming the Aquino administration bought PPEs at a much higher price.
“Price matters. This applies to all items procured by the government, using the money of Filipino taxpayers, regardless of administration,” Lacson said.
He pointed out that price matters even more if there is “gross overpricing” of medical goods involving billions of pesos in public funds while Filipinos face unemployment due to the pandemic.
“If we cannot see what is wrong with that — or worse, try to divert public attention from the issue — then certainly we are a ruined nation,” Lacson said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, meanwhile, said if there was a government-to-government transaction, without a middle man, the Philippines would have saved P284 million, which was paid as commissions to Pharmally Pharmaceutical Corp., a tiny company that bagged a P8.6 billion contract to supply the government with face masks and face shields that turned out to be overpriced.
“It is alleged that the government would have had to look for suppliers because of the tightness of the supply,” said Drilon in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
“They even had the Chinese ambassador assist them. If that is so, why do you have to go to a middle man, why not do a government-to-government transaction?” Drilon said.
He said Pharmally earned P284.9 million in 2020 “from zero income in 2019” after winning the government contract.
The Senate blue ribbon committee is investigating the Department of Health’s transfer of P42 billion funds to the Procurement Service- Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM) for the purchase of face masks and face shields at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The DBM-PS and its former chief, resigned Budget undersecretary Christopher Lloyd Lao, are currently in hot water due to purchase of PPEs that was also flagged by the Commission on Audit (COA).
Senators are also looking into the possible links between Pharmally and Chinese businessman Michael Yang, President Rodrigo Duterte’s former economic adviser.
Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee, is seeking information on the involvement of Yang, and the President, on the issue.
Senator Risa Hontieveros, meanwhile, said President Dutrete must have lost his sense of smell because he had once said he would not tolerate even the whiff of corruption, and the Pharmally deal “stinks really badly.”
“The facts are simple. The Pharmally contract awards have numerous red flags planted on them,” said Hontiveros.
“So, if there is any bit of callous indifference, it is about ignoring the warning signs: buying supplies from shady companies with fugitives at the helm during the worst pandemic in history,” she added.
Hontiveros noted that the PPEs, which were purchased without public bidding, were bought even if there were cheaper alternatives on the market.
Hontiveros said she could not understand how the Palace let this matter slide.
“How can this be considered an investment of the country, when they’re milking Filipinos?” she said.
More Filipinos could have been protected during the pandemic if the government had not paid for overpriced face masks and face shields, she said.
Saying he had nothing to hide, Senator Christopher Go said he respects a possible ethics investigation at the Senate due to his links to former officials tagged in the questionable Pharmally deal.
“I respect this institution that I belong to and I hope that fairness and due process will always be upheld in these halls,” said Go.
If somebody would file a complaint against him before the Senate ethics committee, Go said he would respect the decision of his fellow senators.
Go said his conscience was clear because he did nothing wrong.
Senator Manny Pacquiao had said he would take action if a complaint against Go would be filed before the Senate ethics committee, which he chairs.
Go, a long-time aide of President Rodrigo Duterte, said he would step down if anyone could prove if he was involved in corruption.one peso, I will resign. And if they prove I’ve done something wrong, I will accept it whatever the Senate rules are,” Go said.
The Palace said there is no need to scrutinize personalities behind the Pharmally deal, saying the company was “a separate entity from its stockholders.”
In a press briefing, Roque said that a corporation has a separate personality, separate and distinct from the stockholders.
Roque issued the statement after Hontiveros said that Pharmally International Holding Company executives and a business associate of Michael Yang, are wanted in Taiwan for financial crimes.
The holding company’s chairman, Huang Wen Lie, also known as Tony Huang, is wanted in Taiwan for securities fraud, embezzlement, and stock manipulation, Hontiveros added.
“Under the law, we have a principle that a corporation has a separate personality, separate and distinct from the stockholders. But the one that entered a bid was the corporation,” Roque said.
He also noted that it was Congress, through the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, that mandated expedited procurement of the needed supplies during the pandemic.
“You’re the one who crafted the law to expedite purchases of supplies in times of pandemic. It is not indicated that we should scrutinize what we normally scrutinize under RA No. 9184,” he said.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Thursday assured the public that his agency would no longer transfer any COVID-19 response funds in the 2022 budget to the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM).
Asked about the purchase of overpriced face masks and face shields through the PS-DBM, Duque said they would not do it again.
Also on Thursday, Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin denied any procurement of allegedly overpriced personal protective equipment (PPEs) when she was Health secretary during the Aquino administration.
“I was shocked by the remarks of Secretary Harry Roque that the PPEs bought by the previous administration were too expensive,” Garin said.
“For the record, I cannot remember being involved in this procurement,” Garin added.
Roque said the Aquino administration bought PPEs worth above P3,000 each in 2015 and 2016, higher by almost P1,300 for each unit bought by the Duterte administration.